Dr. Richard Beddingfield, a practicing cardiothoracic anesthesiologist in Wisconsin, is the author of Med School Uncensored: The Insider's Guide to Surviving Admissions, Exams, Residency, and Sleepless Nights in the Call Room. The book provides a comprehensive view of the entire becoming-a-doctor process, from choosing to become a physician and taking the MCAT, through med school acceptance, rotations, residency, specializations, and getting your first position, along with a succinct discussion of the different exams you’ll need to take and the hoops you’ll need to jump through along the way.

Can you tell us a little about yourself? Your background and where you grew up? [2:04]

I grew up in the southeast, in Florida and Georgia. I went to college at the University of Michigan. I considered a variety of majors, but ended up in Computer Information Systems (CIS) - not the prototypical path to medicine! I worked with a small start-up tech firm offering internet services in the late 90s when that was a magical mystery to companies and users. During my senior year of college I first started thinking about becoming a physician. I attended a mini med school function at Michigan that sparked my initial interest. At the time I didn’t want to delay my college process – I didn’t have any pre-reqs to speak of, so I would have had to delay my graduation. I continued working in CIS (which actually has come in handy with electronic medical records!), went back to school first part-time and then full-time to cram through my pre-reqs at the University of Minnesota. Then I got back to the normal path – MCAT, applications, interviews, etc., and started medical school in 2006.  

You were initially a computer science major and worked for a couple of years between college and med school. What made you decide to step away from that career? [5:43]

When you are at that age tiny little decisions can take you in a completely different direction. If things had happened differently, maybe I would have stayed with computers. In the past I had done service jobs, and really enjoyed working and chatting with people. I missed that at my job behind a computer desk. The med school seminar was over a 7-8 week period. Lectures were given by med school faculty on a variety of topics (pathology, cardiology, etc), and I was really fascinated and wanted to know more - how the body works, how disease occurs, medical intervention. So I started researching more and more.

Prior to that point I had never been premed, going through the regimented tasks, so I had to learn all that stuff on the fly, and make sure it was something I really wanted to do, since it would set me back in terms of my education. I shadowed a couple physicians, did some volunteer work, some research, and got involved as much as my time would allow. Ultimately I decided medicine is what I wanted to do.

What motivated you to write Med School Uncensored? [9:16]

I really first had the idea to do something like it in 2010. It was my final year of med school and I had volunteered to mentor premed students at the University of Minnesota. I chatted with a student over email and then met him at a coffee shop. I sat down with this guy and he started asking me questions. I was 3-4 months from graduating, so I expected there would be questions about what it’s like to be in medical school, but the questions were variations of, “How do I get into med school?” and,